Abstract

The goals of this thesis are twofold. First, an attempt is made to establish the moral doctrine of the Catholic Church and to place this doctrine within the general history of ethics as this history has developed in the West. This done, it will be possible to move onto our second objective, which is to assess the sociological status of the Catholic Church within the context of actual contemporary existence. To achieve the first goal it has been necessary to examine those texts of the contemporary MAGISTERIUM that pertain to ethical teaching. As a preparation for this analysis, we have looked at two texts from the Second Vatican council, texts which seemed to offer two different paths of ethical reflection. That is, these texts seemed either to offer an open door for reform in moral teaching in the Catholic Church, or to underwrite the traditional approach. Our analysis of Pope John Paul II's VERITATIS SPLENDOR indicates that the MAGISTERIUM has opted for the second path and has, in fact, re-allied itself with the traditional ethical approach of the Church as represented, unambiguously, by Pope Pius XII. With this task accomplished, it became necessary to analyze both the modern situation and the postmodern situation in regard to ethics. Ernst Troeltsch's The Social Teaching of the Christian Churches was then used as a paradigm to note that the Church, by virtue of its ethical theory, is fast approaching sect status and losing its mainstream credibility. Prior to this historical and sociological reflection, however, it was necessary to review the reception that VERITATIS SPLENDOR received in Canada in both the religious and secular contexts in order to establish a framework within which to place the Church's thought and her sociological status. We will briefly indicate why we embraced these positions. ;1. The 'official' ethical doctrine of the Catholic Church. We have attempted to outline the 'official' ethics of the Catholic Church by an analysis of the following documents: LUMEN GENTIUM and GUADIUM ET SPES from the Second Vatican Council; VERITATIS SPLENDOR of Pope John Paul II; Pope Paul VI's HUMANAE VITAE; and Pius XII's HUMANI GENERIS. These texts establish the firm basis in the 'natural law' upon which the Church founds her official ethical teaching. ;2. Canadian reaction to 'VERITATIS SPLENDOR'. In this stage of the project we canvassed the various media reactions to the VERITATIS SPLENDOR as well as looking at Pope John Paul II's own reaction in his EVANGELIUM VITAE. In addition, a limited survey was conducted and an analysis done of the Human Life International convention held in Montreal in the summer of 1995. The above discussion indicated that the Pope's moral teaching is not seen as relevant to the times. ;3. The Catholic Church's status in intellectual history and contemporary society. Our last chapter attempts to place the Church both as a system of thought and as an institution within history, This attempt includes a review of both modern and postmodern ethical thought as well as a use of the paradigm supplied by Ernst Troeltsch. ;Conclusion. We conclude that the Church benefits from postmodern plurality and is, in fact, becoming a sect